


Breathe

by queen_scribbles



Series: Stars Rewritten AU [4]
Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Bedside Vigils, Gen, Hidden Feelings, Pre-Relationship, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 11:11:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18234092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: A second fill for Pillars weekly prompt #83, using Roll For It elements Edér, comfort, and wind. This is set in Adi's canon where Heodan survived the bîaŵac. He got hurt pretty bad protecting her while they were fighting Cail the Silent, and well, Adi had some feelings about that.





	Breathe

**Author's Note:**

> A second fill for Pillars weekly prompt #83, using Roll For It elements Edér, comfort, and wind. This is set in Adi's canon where Heodan survived the bîaŵac. He got hurt pretty bad protecting her while they were fighting Cail the Silent, and well, Adi had some feelings about that.

 

_Breathe. Just breathe. In. Out. Don’t stop. Please, **please** don’t stop._

Adela plucked another blade of grass and started peeling it to strips without even looking. Her gaze was fixed on the faint(oh, so terrifyingly _faint_ ) rise and fall of Heodan’s chest. As if she could ensure it continued through sheer concentration or force of will. Once the grass was thoroughly shredded, she ran her thumb over the blue gems set in her ring. Again, she pressed them flush with the copper setting. Again, nothing happened. She hadn’t really expected this time to be any different, but she had to try.

 _Just let me help him._ It was a directionless plea, as she was unsure which god was best to ask. She’d never so strongly resented her uselessness as a healer. They’d done what they could in the Searing Falls cave, and he was still alive, which was better than nothing, but she couldn’t shake the somber gravity of Pallegina’s golden eyes as the woman cautioned against hoping for miracles with injuries this severe.

_**Breathe.** _

It just made her feel so damn helpless, and she hated it. _This_ had happened because he was trying to protect her. He _might die_ because he was worried about her. She pulled in a sharp breath at the cold trickle of fear and reached to smooth the makeshift bandages. They didn’t need it; it wasn’t like he’d _moved_ since-

No. No, she wasn’t going to think about that, she _**wasn’t**_. About blood and heat and drake claws-

“Hey, Adi.” Edér’s timing was perfect as he ducked into the tent.

“Hm?” Adela briefly glanced up at him before she returned to watching Heodan. 

“You should eat somethin’.”

The wind rattled through nearly-bare branches outside in the long moment before she replied. “Maybe later. I... I can’t right now.” Her thumb pressed one of the gems again. Nothing. Of course.

“Uh-huh.” Edér hesitated, sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Adi, you... you know it ain’t your fault or anything, right?”

“I know,” she said softly. “This is concern, not guilt.” One hand closed around her necklace, feeling the ivory warm from her skin. “He _did_ get hurt protecting me, though. There’s no escaping _that_.”

_In. Out. Just keep breathing._

Edér sat next to her and watched her as she watched Heodan. “You want me to keep an eye on him so you can get some sleep?”

 _A screeching roar, pained and angry. Whirling scales. Snapping bone and sheer panic. Why did he risk that for me?_ Adela rubbed her hands down her face.  “Thanks for the offer, but the dreams have been bad lately.” She flexed her right hand, testing the healing progress of her own injury. “I don’t think I’d get much sleep, anyway.”

It was half-true. She wouldn’t sleep, but not due to the Watcher dreams.

_Please keep breathing._

And Edér could tell. “You know Pallegina did everything she can.”

She nodded, fear still knotted tight in her chest. “She also said she wasn’t sure he’d make it back to Caed Nua, and I.... Edér, I need him to make it.”

He smiled comfortingly and patted her back. “If he’s been stubborn enough to keep up with you this long, he will.”

Her laugh tangled on the lump in her throat, but Adela still shot a quick, grateful look toward the blond farmer. “Hope you’re right.”

“I am.” He squeezed her shoulder. “Look, I know you two’re close, an’ I can see you’re dead set on worryin’ about him. Can’t blame you, either, so I’ll stop bein’ a distraction.” He tweaked her braid as he got to his feet. “Holler if you need anything.”

“I will,” she promised, yanking up another blade of grass. 

_In. Out._

Edér ducked back out of the tent, and Adela settled in for the long night ahead of her.

_Just keep breathing._


End file.
